Editor's Note :

We are expecting one or more decisions in argued cases tomorrow at 10 a.m. We will be live-blogging the opinion(s) as they are released. However, there is no live blog of tomorrow’s oral argument in King v. Burwell. We will have coverage of that argument as soon as possible after it is finished; the transcript should be available tomorrow afternoon, and the audio will be available on Friday. Wednesday's live blog will be available here.

Petitions to Watch | Conference of 9.29.09 (Part IV)

Posted Sun, September 27th, 2009 8:13 pm by Kristina Moore

This is the fourth edition of "Petitions to Watch" featuring cases up for consideration at the Justices' opening conference of September 29. We’ll have one final post tomorrow; included in today’s post are the Second Amendment incorporation petitions out of the Second and Seventh Circuits. As always, the list contains the petitions on the Court's paid docket that Tom has deemed to have a reasonable chance of being granted. Links to previous editions are available in our archives on SCOTUSwiki.

Docket:08-1459Title:Michigan v. DorseyIssue: When all containers, including such effects as purses, are places within the premises where the contraband might be found, is the search of a personal effect (here a purse dropped to the floor by Respondent) within the scope of the warrant?

Docket:08-1470Title:Berghuis, Warden v. ThompkinsIssue: Whether the Sixth Circuit expanded the Miranda rule to prevent an officer from attempting to non-coercively persuade a defendant to cooperate where the officer informed the defendant of his rights, the defendant acknowledged that he understood them, and the defendant did not invoke them but did not waive them.

Docket:08-1525 Title: Improv West Associates, et al. v. Comedy Club, Inc. et al. (similar to 08-1396/08-1446, on manifest disregard)Issue: Whether "manifest disregard of the law" is a valid ground for vacatur of an arbitration award under the Federal Arbitration Act and whether the FAA allows for vacatur of an arbitration award based upon an arbitrator’s good faith but, in the view of the reviewing court, "fundamentally incorrect" interpretation of state law.

Docket:08-1555Title:Samantar v. Bashe Abdi Yousuf, et al.Issue: . Whether a foreign state’s immunity from suit under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), 28 U.S.C. § 1604, extends to an individual acting in his official capacity on behalf of a foreign state and whether an individual who is no longer an official of a foreign state at the time suit is filed retains immunity for acts taken in the individual’s former capacity as an official acting on behalf of a foreign state.

Docket:08-1569Title:United States v. O'Brien and BurgessIssue: Whether the mandatory minimum sentence enhancement under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1) to a 30-year minimum when the firearm is a machinegun is an element of the offense that must be charged and proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt, or instead a sentencing factor that may be found by a judge by the preponderance of the evidence.

Opinion below (1st Circuit)

Petition for certiorari

Brief in opposition for respondent Burgess

Appendix to brief in opposition

Brief in opposition for respondent O’Brien

Petitioner's reply

Docket: 08-1589Title: Dow Chemical Company v. Tanoh, et al.Issue: Can removal of mass civil actions under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) be avoided by dividing a single mass action into several, identical cases, each with less than 100 plaintiffs? Does CAFA require a removing party to demonstrate that at least 100 plaintiffs will be parties to an actual trial of the removed action or is removal determined at the time of filing, regardless of how the case is eventually tried?

Docket:08-1497 ; 08-1521Title:NRA, et al. v. City of Chicago ; McDonald, et al. v. City of ChicagoIssue: Whether the Second Amendment is incorporated into the Due Process Clause or the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment so as to be applicable to the States, thereby invalidating ordinances prohibiting possession of handguns in the home.

Docket: 08-1592Title:Maloney v. RiceIssue: Whether the Second Amendment is incorporated into the Due Process Clause or the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment so as to be applicable to the States.

Merits Case Pages and Archives

On Monday the Court issued orders from its February 27 Conference. Two new cases were granted. On Tuesday the Court announced its decision in Direct Marketing v. Brohl. This is the second week of the February sitting.

“I think always the humor was a means to an end. And the end is, to help folks who don’t live in this world understand why it matters.” Dahlia Lithwick covers the Supreme Court and writes about law more broadly for Slate.com. In this six-part interview, Ms. Lithwick discusses law school, practicing law, and how […]